Predicting the football results in 1943 can be a tricky business.....

Now I fully concede that on this, I am outside my comfort zone and pretty much at the edge of what I know about football pools, war time football and Mr A Thompson of Albert Road Manchester 19.

Mr Thompson predicts ...... 1943

But that won’t stop me reflecting on a list of football predictions for Saturday October 30th 1943 which were offered up by a Mr A Thompson.

There are eight cards, but only one has a date and that is limited to the day and the month.

What makes them even more interesting is that some of them have a drawing of a fighter aircraft on the reverse.

They were acquired by my old friend David Harrop who thought the planes dated from the 1930s.

Bergamaschi (Caproni) API

A search for the aircraft revealed that some at least date from the late 1930s, but went into operational use in the 1940s.

Given that the October 30th in the predictions has to be a Saturday, a search offered up two possible candidates, which were 1932 and 1943, and as some at least of the planes postdate 1932, I rather think Mr Thompson penned his predictions during the war.

And that led to a slight doubt because I was convinced that the war had put an end to the league.

Lockhead 14 Bomber

But not so, the games carried on, with teams mounting a depleted professional list of stars and were reorganised on a regional basis.

A trawl of the Manchester Guardian revealed the fixture for October 30th and there under the section headed League South were the teams on Mr Thompson list, including Millwall, Arsenal and Southampton.

That said, his track record of predicting winners was a bit off.
Millwall drew with Aldershot, as did Arsenal and Crystal Palace, while Southampton went down to a stunning defeat, losing to Queens Park Rangers 7 goals to 1.

The results, November 1, 1943

Nor did he fare much better in the North where he confidently asserted that Chesterfield, Sunderland, and Wolves, along with Oldham and Gateshead would be winners.

In reality only Gateshead was successful, with Sunderland and Wolves managing a draw, and Chesterfield and Oldham going down to defeat.

All of which makes me wonder whether the true winner was the artist who used the back to draw those fighter aircraft.

But I did learn something, because having been stumped by the word nap, David tild me it is a “term used in betting circles, for example my nap for the day is Andrew’s Pride in the 2.30 at Newmarket”. 

Alas Mr Thompson has stayed in the shadows, his house was occupied by someone else in 1939 and so far nothing else about him has come to light.

But it is early days.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Mr Thompson’s football predictions, and those aircraft, circa 1943, courtesy of David Harrop and Results Manchester Guardian, November 1, 1943